Entry #62
 
12:13 PM, Thursday, July 20th, 2000:
 
MOVIE MINDED
EPISODE 1 - 7.16.00
"THE PATRIOT"
 
So word comes, that we can't use the trailers anymore. Why? $2000-$8000 per MINUTE. The studios are still stuck on TV prices I guess. That's just an insane amount of money. So we realize we need to rework it. Even STILLS from the movie are in the thousand dollar range. How insane is that? I was highly bummed because even the trailers were weak, I wanted the actual scenes like you see onother movie review shows. We got a package for Titan A.E., but it was already too late.
YouTube link added 12.20.07
 
So how do you do a review without showing any part of the movie, and still look professional? Therein lies the catch. Being professional. We have to make it look like we don't NEED the trailer... I mentioned to Eric that we could always spoof the trailer and then leave everything the same. Then Eric said we should actually have the review within the spoof with the tvs givin' the review while Live Adam is all serious. And a new Movie Minded was born.
 
What we didn't realize at the time was not only did this solve our trailer problem, it also greatly expanded the shelf life of our shows. Whereas before we could've never sold Frequency because the movie was too old, a spoof will last for quite some time. Now since there is still a review within, it can't go on for years...but it makes it viable for months as opposed to weeks. Which helps the production end of it, because this new kind of Movie Minded is quite difficult to put together. So yahoo...
 
Now shooting this was a btich. It was hot, and I was in this damn revolutionary war get-up and a long haired wig. But I must admit it was fun. Eric and I seem to have a partnership that nicely relies on each other. He'd ask me to look at his camera shots, and vice-versa. I seem to have a little more knowledge on framing, and together we came up with some interesting things. But shooting the outside stuff was easy. Again, the tvs were a bear to time. I am as always quite the perfectionist, so I want it to be dead-on...and I think it worked. We really put together a great little show that is gonna be tough to live up to. Everyone's immediate reaction is to do The Klumps, or X-Men...but it seems to be funnier to do serious movies and poke fun. It would be great to do a romantic comedy and have the tvs in each scene making fun of it. Whereas..what could you do with the Klumps? It's already funny as shit, and we don't have the budget to pull of those kind of costumes. So we'll see what's next...
 
For now, enjoy "The Patriot". After seeing this, you'l know why I've been all excited the past month. We've definitely got something here.
 
JULY 2000